


WHEN WE WERE YOUNGER

by orphan_account



Category: Hamilton - Miranda
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-10-19
Updated: 2016-12-19
Packaged: 2018-08-23 09:17:08
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 7
Words: 4,676
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8322364
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/orphan_account/pseuds/orphan_account
Summary: First time doing jeffmads, short chapters. :D hope u likeLittle Thomas and Little James(modern)





	1. Chapter 1

CHAPTER ONE

 

“AND WITH A FLOURISH, YOU SAY FRANCE!”  
James jumped out of his chair the instant the head hit his desk. One hand on his mouth, he slowly backed away. The head stirred, a mass of auburn hair that looked so soft that he was too stunned by it to touch one of the curls. It was spread on his desk in waves, and, being five, James, having overcome his shock, slowly reached out to finger it. It was as silky as it appeared. The boy attached to the hair slowly shifted and James pulled away reluctantly. The boy turned to face James, and smiled broadly, revealing a missing tooth; despite their age, the boy cleared James by a solid foot, and James peered up. “Hello,” he said politely, looking into the boy’s hazel eyes. “Hi!” the child responded in a singsong, reedy voice, and, suddenly shy, looked at his feet. “I’m Thomas.” “I’m James.” He beamed back. “And your hair is soft.”  
_________________________________________________________________________________

James finished his hard work and leaned back. “Ta-da!” he smiled so hard he thought he might’ve cracked a tooth. He had braided every single strand of Thomas’ hair for the past three hours and examined his sore, six year old hands. Thomas gazed into the mirror, mouth wide. “Jemmy!” He screeched, but was laughing. “It’s so pretty,” James gushed. Both of them knew no one else would ever have had the patience to do anything to Thomas’ massive amount of curly locks.  
_________________________________________________________________________________

“Wait!”  
James ran up to Thomas, breathless. “Thomas, I’ve been look-” He stopped short, gawking at the tall, beautiful girl talking to Thomas. She, too, was watching him, except she was beaming, revealing pristine teeth. She had long- James stopped describing her in his mind, watching as a second girl, with black hair and a tear-streaked face run up to the first girl. “Angelica! I’ve been look-” She narrowed her eyes at Thomas, then at James. Thomas and Angelica started laughing in sync. “Jemmy, this is Angelica.” Thomas motioned towards the tall girl, who tipped an imaginary cap. Angelica smiled at Thomas, then at the other girl. “Eliza, this is Thomas- and his …” James resisted the urge to shout, “Best friend!” and instead stared at his shoes. “Best friend. In the world!” Thomas interjected proudly, and James felt so happy that instant he could’ve screamed. But James never screamed. “This is your sister?” He pointed to Eliza, who was frowning as she wiped her eyes. Angelica, suddenly noticing her sister’s tears, knelt to her level and whispered into her ear after hugging her tightly. This made Eliza laugh. “Yes.” Angelica, caressing her sister’s face, stood up. She waved. “Bye, Thomas,” She smiled. “James.” Arm around Eliza’s shoulders, she walked away.  
Thomas turned back to James who was simultaneously upset and still glowing with Thomas’s praise. “She seemed nice,” he eventually mustered. Thomas nodded vigorously. “I think you’ll get along great with Eliza….”


	2. A winter's ball and introductions

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> introductions and a winter's ball.

“Alexander Hamilton.” The boy cocked a grin. “My name is Alexander Hamilton.” James watched Thomas’ lips set in a thin, straight line. “And I’m from Nevis…” James ignored the boy’s talking as he sized him up. Thin. Dark, thick hair and dark brown eyes that seemed to have a flame ignited behind their shiny irises. James watched his classmates for reactions; Thomas seemed to instantly despise him, John Laurens, the boy from South Carolina who had transferred in a year ago, was smiling like an idiot, the marquis de Lafayette,(most people called him Lafayette due to his exceedingly long real name) and a tall Irish boy, Hercules Mulligan, were exchanging glances behind Laurens’ back, to James’ disappointment, Eliza Schuyler was just as entranced as Laurens, Angelica was furtively glancing between Eliza and Alexander with an odd expression, and Aaron Burr, who was the top in the class, was staring at Alexander with an expression that was a cross between Thomas’, pure jealousy, and Eliza’s/Laurens’ enchantment. James rolled his eyes and hunched down. Finally, Finally, Alexander stopped talking, and everyone clapped. (James wasn’t even sure why, he had just introduced himself; Laurens’, Eliza, Lafayette and Mulligan applauded like there was no tomorrow) And making his way down the aisle, he spit his chewing gum up in the air, where it stopped in midair for a millisecond before it drop-drop-dropped into Thomas’ hair. Thomas and James got up at the exact same time, Thomas to run to the bathroom with safety scissors, James to fantasize about punching Hamilton’s lights out and then to run into the bathroom after him. Hamilton looked guilty for about as long as it had taken the gum to stick in Thomas’ hair. James found Thomas in the bathroom, tears swimming in murky eyes. “Oh, no no no no.” James took the scissors and immediately began snipping as Thomas stood transfixed in front of the mirror. He gaped at the mess, trying not to make it bigger, until eventually it was fixed; with Thomas’ hair having to be cut to adjust to the new shorn side. When James finished, he muttered to Thomas, “I’m sure now you’ll be wanting to kill him every second of every day?” He meant this as a grim joke, but Thomas simply smirked and said, “Probably would even more so if you weren’t such a good damn barber.”   
James smiled up at him and half hugged Thomas’ waist, the only part of him he could reach.  
_________________________________________________________________________________

“A WINTER’S BALL” James read the flyer out loud to Thomas, who was doodling. “Hmm?” Thomas looked up and shifted his position in the tree that they sat in, using a stick to prod James. . James laughed and smacked him with a leafy bough. James handed the paper to Thomas, who read the title for himself. “SIXTH GRADE DANCE! A WINTER’S BALL!” He read the rest silently, then leaned backwards, forgetting that he was in a tree. James grabbed his leg. “Thomas,” he said, pulling him up and rolling his eyes, “Who’re you going to take?” Thomas’ immediately blurted, “Angelica,” Then regretted it. He put his hand dramatically on his forehead. “I don’t know.” James frowned. “Eliza’s going to go with Hamilton…ugh.” He closed his eyes, wishing he could just sit up there in the leaves with Thomas forever. “What about-” He slammed his head against a branch mid-sentence and felt the dizzying nausea overwhelm him. Thomas was hanging backwards, the blood rushing to his forehead as he struggled to sit. “Jamessss” he whined as he felt his foot slip; James was doubled over, slumped on a crooked branch haphazardly. “JEMMMMYYY!” he screeched, at the same time that James yelled “THOMAS!” and they both fell out of the tree, falling into the dirt, the original impact painful but the laughter afterwards worthwhile. They ran back into James’ house, the flyer forgotten in the dirt.   
_________________________________________________________________________________

Thomas smiled nervously at James from across the courtyard. James slouched in his turtleneck and smiled back. Angelica, who was standing in the courtyard arguing with Eliza, turned her head as Thomas approached. James crossed his fingers and his toes. He hated Thomas being unhappy. After what seemed like eternity of shifting his feet, James saw Thomas down at Angelica and say something indiscernible. What seemed like a mixture of genuine guilt and pity flashed across her freckled face. James’ eyes widened as she started explaining, using her hands to gesticulate, then pointed at Eliza and ran off. Thomas’ face was so scrunched that James’ had to resist hiding in his long sweater. “Thomas-” James stopped talking and gathered their things, running after Thomas, who was all the way across the field already and seemed to be race walking to get as far away from Angelica Schuyler as possible. James looked back and saw Angelica watching them. James glared, wishing he could go over there and scream.  
James didn’t though.  
“What-” He started to say what happened before he swallowed. “Who?”   
Thomas turned, revealing eyes full of malice.  
“Alexander Hamilton.”  
_________________________________________________________________________________  
Thomas was, very spitefully, glaring at Alexander Hamilton as he talked to Angelica Schuyler, who, James pointed out, didn’t look very happy and was rather guiltily glancing at Eliza every five seconds. Thomas and James stood on the side of the punchbowl, James nibbling every few seconds on a snickerdoodle as they intently watched the rest of their classmates fumble around. James stared at his cookie and swallowed hard, peering up at Eliza. Thomas nudged him, now staring at James- James crept forward, step by step, closer and closer to Eliza- he was two feet away and reaching out to touch her shoulder when- “Elizabeth Schuyler. It’s a pleasure to meet you.” He jumped backwards, turning to Thomas miserably as Alexander Hamilton started talking to Eliza. They stood in silence for five minutes, seven minutes, eleven minutes- “Do you want to play Spit?” Thomas turned to James, smiling half-heartedly. Spit was a game they’d invented where they would see who could spit candy into a cup the farthest. James, breaking away from staring, smirked. “Sure.” Then they were just there, in the background of everything, Thomas and James, spitting fruit roll-ups across the room.


	3. francohphiles..and angelica

______________________________________________________________________________  
“Thomas, what’re you doing?” James looked up from his pile of homework, reaching across the marbled countertop. Thomas flipped through the pamphlet. “Oh, nothing.” James grabbed the brochure and cocked a brow. “France?” He frowned. “It’s nothing, Jem!” Thomas grabbed it back and shoved James out of the chair he was sitting in onto the soft rug. James grabbed Thomas’ leg and pulled him down as well. They lay on the fluffy carpet for a moment, Thomas still looking at the pamphlet. James read with him; it was a bunch of touristy things, a list of free websites to learn French that he doubted worked, and several large pictures. “Looks pretty.” James mumbled. “It is.” Thomas started rambling about where the pictures were taken and the importance of the object in the picture. “And so this is connected to this-” James’ eyes widened as Thomas pulled down his backpack and pulled out a pile of brochures, held together with a paper clip. He took out a blue-green one. “What..?” James grabbed it. “Thomas, why the hell do you have thirty-” He peered in Thomas’ backpack, now open on the floor. “Thomas?” He pulled out three heavy books. “Conversational French?” Exasperated, he threw it to the floor. Thomas watched him sheepishly. “France is cool,” He muttered in way of defense. James rolled his eyes and went back to homework, ever so often looking up to see Thomas shuffling through his brochures.  
_________________________________________________________________________________  
James could tell Thomas was guilty.  
He was vaguely sure it was about the France thing; anyway, there he was, holding out the sugar cookie. James’ eyes widened. Thomas had never shared anything. EVER. Much less a cookie - his favorite “food group” as he called it. James crossed his arms. “What.” He tried not to smile; he rather enjoyed Thomas’ guilt-and cookie sharing- but it was wrong. “Nothing.” Thomas withdrew the cookie inch by inch until James grabbed it and broke it in half. “I hate you, francophile.” “I hate you, jerk.” Thomas muttered, but he was smirking. James stood at the edge of the jungle gym, doing what he always did; watching. Particularly watching Angelica shove the youngest Schuyler sister, Peggy, off of a high bar, but Eliza ran under Peggy. “Angelica!” They cackled, Peggy strewn across Eliza’s chest, bright yellow hair ribbons catching the sun, while Eliza heaved as Peggy adjusted her position. Angelica laughed at them from the top of the monkey bars for a moment before jumping down to join them. He watched Alexander Hamilton standing by John Laurens laughing loudly as Lafayette shoved Hercules, who had supposedly, “CHEATED AT CARDS FOR THE LAST TIME, MULLIGAN, I SWEAR TO GOD-” Thomas was balancing on the top of the swing set; looking like a trapeze artist as he wobbled on the narrow blue bar. James laughed when he fell but rushed to help him. Thomas grinned as he grabbed James’ helping hand. “Francophile,” James murmured as they walked back towards the classroom. “Jerk.”  
_________________________________________________________________________________  
One day, Angelica was there when James went to Thomas’ house. She was perched up in the tree alone, her auburn hair in messy braids. “Hi, James!” She called out to him. “Oof.” She jumped out of the tree. James smiled, then almost regretted it. He was unsure about Angelica Schuyler. He dropped his bag on the porch. “Hi, Angelica.” She grinned back and James was glad he’d smiled. Angelica Schuyler had quite a smile. “Where’s Thomas?” He scratched the back of his neck where the sharp, jet black hairs itched his neck relentlessly. “Oh, he’s making lemonade.” Her expression turned serious suddenly. “Do you like lemonade?” She said, like it was an interrogation. James awkwardly brought . “Um..Yeah. I mean, I like this kind of peach lemonade that they used to sell at Whole foods? Have you ever been to Whole foods-” She cut him off with laughing, big heaves. “Oh, god, James, Thomas didn’t tell me you were so…” She looked him right in the eye. “So great.” James blushed immediately as she continued to laugh. Thomas came out with a tray, pitcher and cups wobbling haphazardly. “Thomas!” They said at the same time. “Hi, Jemmy!” Thomas called. Angelica smirked. “I was just telling James how great he is.” She smiled again, and James stared at his shoes. “Oh, yeah, Jemmy’s awesome.” Thomas shoved James. They both smiled at him, and James decided that he did like Angelica Schuyler.


	4. ANGELICAAA

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> 13 yo angelica schuyler.  
> must be fun

_________________________________________________________________________________  
Angelica rolled over and the first thing she saw was Eliza. They had both fallen asleep on the couch for movie night. (Peggy was curled up against the leg of a chair with kettle corn in her hair) Angelica smiled and tucked a dark lock behind Eliza’s ear, content. Eliza stirred, opening her chocolate brown eyes. She poked Angelica’s nose. “Boop.” Angelica laughed and booped her back. Angelica could lie there forever, Eliza close to her, where she could protect her, Eliza laughing with her, Eliza smiling, Eliza crying but Angelica comforting her, Eliza staring across the room at a boy from Nevis, Eliza’s hand being kissed, exactly like Angelica’s had been.   
Angelica would give up a million things for Eliza.  
Everything.  
Including Alexander Hamilton.  
Because Angelica Schuyler loved her sister more than anything in her life.   
And nothing could change that.  
_________________________________________________________________________________  
Angelica walked over to where James and Thomas stood- tiny James in his overlarge sweater, Thomas in a purple T shirt. Angelica tried to ignore Alexander standing behind them, unsuccessfully. He waved at her, and before she could think, she smiled and waved back. God, Angelica. She sped towards James, who was now alone, as Thomas had gone to get another stick of gum from the snack bar. “Hi,” James smiled up at her. “Hey James,” She said, feeling strangely tall, towering over James. “Look,” He smiled down at his phone, which he had taken out of his backpack. Angelica pulled out hers and laughed.  
TJISGR8!!! Has added Angie;p and JeMmy to the conversation  
! (JeMmy) has changed their name to James Madison  
! (Angie;p) has changed their name to Angelica<3  
Angelica watched the alerts come up on her phone, and she giggled when James showed her Thomas’ contact name on his phone;  
Francophile :P  
And in turn, showed him hers;  
Tommy (!Cuidado!)  
They looked up to see Thomas smirking at them from across the field.   
(TJISGR8!!!) : Jemmy you’re it  
Angelica knew many people of their age had left behind games such as tag, but she hadn’t, and neither, it seemed, had James and Thomas, as James rolled his eyes, placed his phone and backpack on a bench, and poked Angelica in the arm before bolting towards Thomas, who started shrieking like an idiot and running around like a chicken without a head.   
Angelica smiled.   
She’d never had a group of friends that weren’t her sisters.  
And after they’d played a twenty minute game of tag, ending because Thomas had been stung by a bee (James had shrugged: “It’s payback for that loud shirt.”) and Angelica was walking home, she heard her phone beep.  
(TJISGR8!!!) has changed James Madison’s name to JeMmy!!!  
______________________________________________________________________________  
The first day of summer was, as expected, disorganized, from the instant Angelica got her sisters up to the time she tucked them in. And Angelica Schuyler didn’t like disorganized.  
“Get up, get up!” Peggy spat a strand of dark hair out of her mouth before sticking her tongue out at Angelica, but crawled out of bed (Ten minutes later than she was supposed to, Angelica frowned.) and Eliza took all morning plaiting her hair. When they were walking to the car, Peggy realized she’d forgotten her coat and Angelica gave her her’s, in the car a bump in the road ruined their card game, and a dozen other little things. And then an already irate Angelica downright snarled at three people in the cafe who were staring at their father. (“YES, that’s Phillip Schuyler. Get a goddamn life.” ) And to top it off, Alexander Hamilton was there when they went to the bookstore. Angelica and Eliza were waiting for Peggy, who was in the bathroom at Barnes and Nobles. Angelica dropped her magazine because Eliza elbowed her so hard in the ribs that she lost her breath for a moment. “Eliza-” “Alexan-Alexxxx.” Eliza beamed. Angelica smiled curtly at her boots and looped her arm through Eliza’s. “Come, Liza. I hear daddy.” (Peggy screamed at Angelica for three minutes for forgetting her in the bathroom.)   
Angelica stared at the ceiling like she’d seen people in movies. (She practiced her eye-rolls in the mirror, and she was quite good, but Peggy was better.) They wandered around for a while, their parents arguing on which furniture store to go into while the three sisters walked into a Starbucks. She was putting cream and sugar into her coffee when- “Look, it’s Angelica’s boyfriends.” Angelica turned, beet red, kicking Peggy in the shin when another voice cut in- “Hi, Angie.” Angelica looked up and smiled. “Hi Tommy. James.”


	5. Chapter 5

James patted Thomas on the back. He choked and a bit of sugar cookie flew out of his mouth. “God, Thomas, one goddamn meal-” He heard a loud giggle and a “Look, it’s Angelica’s boyfriends.” Before he looked up and saw the source; the Schuyler sisters, Peggy clutching her leg and cursing, Angelica a violent shade of red, and Eliza looking behind them, chewing on a strand of dark hair. “Hi, Angie.” He managed before staring at the floor. Angie. God, he sounded like Thomas. “Hi Tommy. James.” Thomas turned. “Angie!” He managed, coughing. Peggy giggled again and Angelica kicked her in turn. “Margarita Schuyler…” Peggy just chuckled, adjusted a hair ribbon, and danced away, Eliza wandering in the direction of the bathroom. “What’re you two doing here?” She said awkwardly. James cringed. “Um.” He gestured to his pile of books, then to Thomas, who was clutching his throat. Angelica nodded. “Nice.” “How about you..?” James shuddered. He wasn’t very good at these one on ones. Angelica looked behind her, then made a face. “Well, we were supposed to get a snack. But we bumped into Alexander Hamilton-” Thomas stopped hacking long enough to throw a bloodcurdling scowl in the direction Angelica was looking in-“And then we left Peggy in the bathroom, and now…” She smiled again. “We’re here. Well, I’m here. I need to find Eliza and Peggy.” She eyed Thomas. “Do you need help…?” James shook his head. “Nope. All good.” He slapped Thomas harder then intended and an entire half of a cookie flew out. Thomas swallowed. “Thanks, Jem.” Angelica laughed. “Okay. See you two around.”  
Thomas smiled. “Ooh, Jemmy, getting good at these one on ones, are we…”  
_____________________________________________________________________________________  
Two days later, Angelica Schuyler invited Thomas and James over to her house, if you could use the term “house” for the huge, beautiful building that they stared up at. “Wow. Wow.” Thomas kept muttering until James punched him in the arm. Angelica met them in the lobby. (They had a lobby.) “Hi!” She laughed, smoothing her long, cream colored coat. “Hello.” James said politely, smiling back. There truly was nothing like smiling with Angelica. He took the elevator with her while Thomas dashed up the stairs, betting that he could beat them with a minute to spare. “Thank you for inviting us.” James said, robotically spitting out the lines his mother had told him to say when going to another’s house, “especially a lady’s house.” James had rolled his eyes while Thomas had chortled. “Jemmmy the ladiessss mannnn,” he had sang off-key the entire car ride. Angelica snorted. “You’re very welcome, Mr. Madison. While we’re approaching my lovely quarters, might you be interested in small-talk?” James blushed while Angelica laughed the rest of the way. Thomas did not, in fact, beat them, and lost by five minutes. He arrived, flustered, stammering. “You should’ve seen the jam on the stairs, Jemmy!” He said, waving at the empty staircase. “It was absurd.” Angelica laughed as she unlocked the door. “Welcome folks, to the Schuyler experience!”  
______________________________________________________________________________  
James’ first reaction was to hide in his turtleneck. It was blinding and humongous and beautiful. It was…glamorous. (James blushed even thinking that.) Thomas nudged him. James nodded, and they stood their in silence until they noticed Angelica making a point of tapping her foot loudly on the ground and coughing. “Oh. Sorry.” She rolled her eyes. “Anyway..”  
She gave them the grand tour, and they finally settled on the sister’s rooms. Peggy’s was brightly colored and had a giant stuffed emoji pillow on her bed, the tongue lolling as it winked. Eliza’s was plush and had a baby blue carpet; Eliza was sitting on her bed when they walked in and smiled, getting up to join the tour. “Okay, and here’s my room.” Angelica opened her door. “Don’t touch that.” She snapped at Thomas, who was reaching for a book on her shelf. Her room was dominated by bookshelves and a huge window framed with white curtains. The four of them looked down on the city, but ducked back inside. Peggy was in the kitchen, spraying Kraft cheese onto a cracker to no avail. There was yellow goo in her hair, on her clothes, stuck in her nose. She was laughing, and so were the rest of them until their mother swept down the stairs and shrieked at the sight of Peggy before snorting. (“It was a cough, Elizabeth. Not a laugh!”) “Margarita Schuyler,” She said in mock anger, sneaking smiles between turning her back to the sink and wiping cheese off of Peggy using a dishtowel. Thomas was literally on the floor, unashamedly giggling at the top of lungs, his auburn hair so wild as he heaved with laughter that James was sure it would be snapped up by the vacuum cleaner that Mrs. Schuyler had to turn on. (“But mom, how would a vacuum cleaner-” “ANGELICA SCHUYLER YOU-snort-ARE-PART OF THIS!-snort!) Eventually, James, too, gave in to the all out laughter that shook the room, and joined Thomas on the floor. James could’ve lived in that moment forever; just laughing, soft, with Thomas, with the Schuylers, with the ground rumbling with giggles.  
–––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––


	6. miss maria reynolds

James folded his napkin on his lap and coughed into his sleeve, trying to be polite as he was shook with hacking noises. Eliza clapped him on the back, worried, and finally, James had to excuse himself to the restroom. "It's that door, down the hall," Eliza said. "No, not that one-" It was too late- James walked into the "wrong" bathroom, and soon realized why. It was Eliza's room, he laughed to himself, and was about to excuse himself when- another cough joined his chorus, and following it, and indrawn breath, as if someone had done something wrong. He peered around the corner of the room. "Peggy?" He whispered, placing a hand on the bedpost. "Peggy, it's me, James, its okay-" crouched on the floor, in the very back of the large room, there was a girl. She was sitting in a sort of nest, a nest of stuffed animals and blankets, of soft creatures with soft ears. She did look a lot like Peggy, with fluffy golden brown hair, large brown eyes, and a button nose. The only difference was that bruises covered her caramel limbs, stained the soft brown velvet of her cheeks. James reached out, but she burst into tears, and started clawing at the blankets, trying to wriggle out of her safe place, her eyes so full of tears that- "MARIA!" Eliza burst into the room and shoved James out of the way, her blue dress swishing as she hiked it above her knees. "Oh, don't cry," she whispered, crooning to the girl, who melted into her as she absorbed Eliza's warmth, clutching her tighter. "I thought he was HIM," the girl murmured, her voice raspy. Eliza shook her head. "No, sweetie, no," she crooned, although the girl couldn't have been a day younger than Eliza. "He's never coming back. Ever." She shot a dirty look at James, and proceeded to introduce them. "This is James," she told Maria. The girl took a sharp breath, a breath that seemed to puncture her small lungs. "James Madison, dear. You can call him Jemmy, if that feels better." She slowly nodded. "James," she told him, "This is Maria. She used to be Maria Reynolds," she said, patting the girl on the back. "But she is just Maria now."   
Maria nodded up at him, eyes innocent as a cow's.  
"Just Maria,"


	7. ELIZA

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> I HARDCORE SHIP MARLIZA  
> okay so i was trying to do something like hamliza but  
> i cant

Eliza tucked the corners of the blanket in, watching as Maria shivered in her cocoon. "Are you alright?" She asked tentatively, holding Maria's hand as she continued to shiver. "It's just-" Maria swallowed. "It was just hard to meet them, y'know?" She looked down, and Eliza was about to nod, but then Maria broke the long silence. "I don't know what I would do without you, Liza." Eliza's heart leaped with something Eliza didn't really want, something that she recognized but was so different.  
Alexander Hamilton was no Maria.   
He had thick dark hair, she had fluffy cinnamon curls that Eliza could bury her face in.  
He had sarcasm and wit, she had raspy laughs and stolen moments of happiness.  
And Eliza knew which one she liked better.  
______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

"Morning, Liza!" Maria chirped from her blankets, eyes heavy with sleep as she yawned. "Morning, Maria," Eliza sat up as well. "We need to get you your own bed," she laughed, breaking her eyes away from a smiling Maria. "I'll remind Mum right now, in fact." Eliza's legs were wobbly enough when she heard the response- "You're the best, Liza!"  
Eliza walked down the hall, internally facepalming. She would give up a million Alexanders for her one Maria, she thought to herself against her will. "Well, you would," she mumbled. She would give up the world for her new sister, and although she tried to hide this from herself, she knew she would. "Mom," She said, once in the kitchen. "We need to get Maria a new bed, she's growing and her legs are so long, you know how Angelica went through that huge growth-spurt, I think Maria's doing the same-" Her mom laughed. "Of course, Honey. That can be one of her Christmas presents." Eliza smiled back and was about to leave- "Do you want a large one? The two of you could share if you wanted, I know you're not small like you used to be, nevermind, it was a silly ide-" Eliza cut her off with embarassed stammering. "No!" She said forcefully. "I mean, no, it's alright. We can share." Her mother nodded. "Now get dressed....." Eliza didn't hear the rest- her face was pink, her heart was doing jumping jacks, Maria was waiting for her back in her room,  
and Eliza knew she liked it.


End file.
